Wallets, Luggage and Trunks?

A few months back we saw a charge on our Bank of America charge card.  We called them and reported that the charge didn't belong to us.  It wasn't a lot of money, but here we are, months later, with having to go through a lot of hoopla to get the charge removed, the account closed and then reissued.

Flash forward to this past Saturday.  I'm in the middle of teaching when the store owner comes and tells me I have a call.  I excused myself from the class and took the call.  It seems Discovercard was investigating some "interesting charges" happening on THAT day!  After my husband and I explained to them that the charges were not ours, they immediately closed the account and are in the process of reissuing us a new account. 

This is not the first time Discovercard has called to ensure purchases were ours ... they called when we bought my replacement PC, the replacement printer, you know -- big purchases.  This time they were calling about small purchases, and there was something about them that made Discovercard's red flags go up to have them call us immediately.  I don't know how they do it, what causes the red flags to go up, but I like it when a company does this.  Thank you Discovercard!

What a big difference between the two companies, huh?  Now while I don't want to wander too far off the topic of crochet, I do want to warn you, my readers, that when you are shopping online, or even in retail stores, take every precaution to protect those charge accounts!

In highlighting the serious issue of what's going on with my credit life, this brings to mind a wallet I saw online recently -- made of duct tape!  Click here to see -- all it really needs is some crochet trim!! 

And speaking of wallets, lets turn our thoughts to luggage, shall we?  When was the last time you traveled?  Have you noticed how MUCH black luggage there is?  Even my luggage I bought two years agois black!  To help identify my luggage, I crocheted little rectangles and then joined two of them together to cover the handles in an ever so soft pink color.  I intend to add more as time permits.

But never in my life had I seen more beautiful luggage up close than that of Prudence Mapstones'!  I got to see hers when I took one of her workshops in NYC a few years ago ... oh, it was just beautiful!  She said, "You can do it too, you know.  You just take your freeform pieces and stitch it securely to the outside of your luggage."  If you're not familiar with Prudence Mapstone, her work, or with what the concept of freeform is, then give her website a visit at www.knotjustknitting.com.

And, she has a new book out, called, "Bullions & Beyond - tips & techniques for the crochet bullion stitch."  I'm going to have to check and see if it's going to be available here in the states any time soon. {{grins}}

So with the thought process of wallets to luggage, the next step is to think about Trunks ... and more specifically, Trunk Shows!! 

Did you know that Interweave Press is helping to promote crochet by having a traveling Trunk Show based on the book by Judith Swartz, Hip to Crochet?  (I have this book; got it autographed at the Knit Out & Crochet Too! event last year.)  Check out the Interweave website and see if it's coming near you ... and if it isn't, print the page out, bring it to your local yarn shop and request that they become a host!    ... I'm lucky, come the week of May 2-9 oneof the listed shows will be just 19 miles from me!!